The Truest Thing - Hart's Boardwalk

The woman was tall and willowy. She strutted across the room in a pale-blue silk blouse tucked into a high-waisted, knee-length pencil skirt. Her heels were pale blue and black leather, matching her outfit perfectly.

Jack released his hold on me as the woman embraced him. “Darling, it’s lovely to see you,” she murmured.

This was Rosalie Devlin?

I’d anticipated a diminutive, nervous wreck of a woman.

She was nothing like I’d expected. Ian Devlin, for what a gigantic bastard he’d been, had been a tall, good-looking man. I could only imagine he’d been even more so as a young man. It saddened me that he’d swept Rosalie off her feet. But I guess she got her sons out of it. I wondered what Rebecca’s real father was like and if Rosalie had loved him.

Rosalie pulled out of Jack’s embrace but held on to his arm as she turned to me.

“Mom, this is Emery.”

Just like Rebecca, her eyes dropped first to my belly. They stayed there awhile before returning to my face, bright with tears. I stiffened, not sure what those tears meant.

“Emery. May I hug you?”

Relief loosened my tense muscles. In answer, I moved to embrace her, and she gave a teary little laugh in my ear as we hugged. She smelled of expensive floral perfume. When she pulled back, she cupped my face in her hands, studying me with a small, delighted smile that definitely reached her eyes. “Look at you. Aren’t you perfect.”

Of course, I blushed.

“Mom, stop, you’re embarrassing her,” Jack said without conviction, sounding like he was enjoying my discomfort. The bastard. The look I cut him only made him grin harder.

Rosalie bit her lip and released me. “I’m sorry. I just …” Her gaze dropped to my belly again. “I can’t believe I’m going to be a grandmother. It’s wonderful. And she’s so lovely, Jack.” She turned to her son, touching his chest.

“I know,” he agreed with the kind of deep feeling that made my heart ache.

“Hi, Emery.” The man, just as tall as Jack, approached. “I’m Jack’s uncle, Heath. Nice to meet you.” He held his hand out to shake. Studying him, I saw quite a bit of resemblance between him and Jack.

“Likewise.” I smiled shyly and shook his hand. And then did the same when he introduced his wife Amelia.

“We have two daughters, Rosie and Leila, but, like Jamie, they’re at college,” Amelia said.

I nodded, discomforted to be center of attention.

Jack sensed it and tucked me into his side.

“How are you feeling?” Rosalie asked, her eyes moving between my face and my bump.

“I’m good,” I assured her quietly, touching my rounded stomach. “I’ve been lucky so far. I feel great.”

“How far along are you?” Amelia asked.

“Sixteen weeks.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t look it. In fact, if you were to turn around, no one would know you were pregnant at all.”

“I was the same,” Rosalie offered. “It’s perhaps our height. My bump was a little bigger with the boys but not with Rebecca. I was very neat with Rebecca. Perhaps you’re having a girl.” She seemed delighted by the notion.

A little girl.

My goodness.

The thought filled me with longing. But so did the idea of having a boy.

“We find out in a few weeks what the sex of the baby is,” Jack said.

“So, you don’t want it to be a surprise?”

Jack nodded at me to answer since I was the one who wanted to know. Jack didn’t mind either way. I grinned at Rosalie as I thought about Jess. “One of my best friends is pregnant. In fact, she’s a week past due.” Poor Jess. “And she’s having a boy. We’ve both got this ridiculous notion in our heads that if Jack and I have a girl, then she might grow up to fall in love with Jess and Cooper’s boy.” I blushed because saying it out loud to strangers made us sound so infantile.

To my surprise, however, Rosalie brought her hands together, her eyes bright with happiness as she looked at Jack. “Cooper’s boy?”

Jack nodded.

“Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful?” She squeezed her son’s arm. “I like that idea very much. Okay. Then we’ll all pray for a girl!”

Not long later, Jack led me into the dining room for dinner. We were far enough away from his family for me to murmur, “Your mom seems in great spirits, Jack.”

“I haven’t seen her like this in years. I told you she was excited to be a grandma.”

“Then we’ll need to make sure she gets to see her grandkid a lot.”

Jack seemed to stumble over his own feet, and I pressed a hand to his chest to support him. That hand fell away as if burned when I saw his expression.

He looked at me …

Like Vaughn looked at Bailey.

Like Michael at Dahlia.

Cooper at Jess.

Oh my God.

It occurred to me it wasn’t the first time Jack gazed at me as if he loved me. In fact, there were times these past few weeks that he’d looked at me this way as he made love to me.